


Propus

by pentipus



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Constellations, Cuddling, Fluff, Kinda, M/M, night time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 18:52:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7769152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pentipus/pseuds/pentipus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>CUDDLING IN THE DARK.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Propus

Daryl comes to him in the cold, when the black night creeps in around them like rising flood water. Rick shifts over on his spot of hard floor, or dented mattress, or musty sofa, so that Daryl can slide in beside him or spoon up behind him under whatever blanket they have scavenged for that night. They don’t talk about it afterwards, not when the sun is up, but Rick will ask him quietly as they are pressed together in the dark, “You need this.” It’s not really a question, but Daryl replies, “Yeah,” all the same.

Nothing happens. Rick takes his cues from Daryl, who seems perfectly content to curl himself, cat-like, into the hollow of Rick’s body each night and breathe the hot air between them until the sun comes up. Rick likes to wrap his arm around him though, something heavy to draw them closer together, something to ground them both in the dark.

One time Rick pressed his cold lips to Daryl’s forehead, the smell of dried blood in his hair, and Daryl had tipped his head up, catching Rick’s lips for a moment before tucking his head under Rick’s chin and breathing slow into a shallow sleep.

In the day time the group is close, and walk together like a pack of hunting dogs. Rick feels the weight of Daryl beside him even when he’s not there, the comforting mass of his existence enough to still Rick’s mind even when they are apart.

“Castor and Pollux,” Daryl said one night as they sat together out under the stars, pointing with his cigarette towards the sky. They had found a farmhouse on a hill two days before and the bright moon lit the earth around them like a still from a silent movie.

Rick followed the line of smoke drifting up from Daryl’s cigarette, staring out into the universe from their perch on the hill. “Huh,” he said, searching for the pattern of stars Daryl was pointing to; _Mekbuda_ , _Mebsuta_ , _Alhena_ , and _Alzirr_ , the constellation Gemini spinning above them as the earth turned.

“You see it?” Daryl asked. “They’re together like that every night.” He paused, his eyes narrowing as he looked up at the constellation. “They’re brothers too.”

Rick nodded and looked down at the black grass, listening to the soft rustle of tobacco and paper burning as Daryl took a drag from his cigarette. He imagined the star _Propus_ between them, joining them in the dark like in the night sky above.

“You're gettin’ philosophical,” Daryl said with a huff. “I can tell.”

Rick laughed quiet, the way they do now, and nudged his shoulder against Daryl’s. “You started it.”

Daryl nodded and looked back up at the sky. “It’s comfortin’ is all. Being together like that.”

Rick said nothing, afraid of breaking the moment somehow, afraid of pushing when Daryl needed to be pulled. So instead he sat silently beside him, their bodies touching from shoulder to elbow, the edges of their booted feet pressed against one another in the grass, the two of them together in the dark.

 


End file.
